Travel & tech journalist from New Delhi, India

Next Big Thing – Oppo 5X Zoom (Stuff)

A better zoom? So that’s what all the cool kids want this year for Diwali?Hey, us gadget nuts always want the coolest, shiniest toy. We fell in love with phablets, switched our affections over to super-high-res screens, started craving speedy fingerprint scanners… What’s next? Cameras! “Obvio”, as you’d say. Your phone’s the most convenient camera there is, so isn’t it time someone finally made it better? That’s exactly what Oppo’s doing – they say their new tech means far better zoom performance while still guaranteeing a super-slim form factor.

But I don’t want an ugly camera bump!And you won’t! That’s ‘cos Oppo’s boffins have another trick up their sleeves – an optical prism and zoom lens arrangement inspired by a submarine’s periscope – The zoom system’s been turned around 90° so it lays flat, giving you a camera module just 5.7mm thick. Meanwhile, the prism adjusts its angle in increments as fine as 0.0025°, making for pin-sharp images even when zoomed in all the way. As of now, this new tech’s not in any production device, but we’d wager Oppo’s next flagship should deliver the goods, er, like a torpedo from a submarine.